This invention relates generally to antenna systems and more particularly to phased array antenna systems.
As is known in the art, phased array antenna systems are adapted to produce a beam of radio frequency energy (RF) and direct such beam along a selected direction by controlling the phase of the energy passing between a transmitter/receiver and an array of antenna elements through a plurality of phase shifter sections. This direction is provided by sending a control word (i.e., data representative of the desired phase shift, as well as attenuation and other control data such as a strobe signal) to each of the phase shifter sections. Such control word has been sent to the phase shifter sections through electrical wires or opto-electronics (i.e., fiber optics).